Multi-colored ribbon system



Nov. 26, 1968 D. H. SMITH ETAL 3,412,839

MULTI-COLORED RIBBON SYSTEM Filed April 26, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS "1 DAVID H. SMITH SAMUEL D. CAPPOTTO AGENT Nov.

26, 1968 H. SMITH ETAL MULTI -COLORE'D RIBBON SYSTEM April 26, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TORS DAVID H. SMITH SAMUEL D. CAPPOTTO will AGENT United States Patent 3,412,839 MULTI-COLORED RIBBON SYSTEM David H. Smith, Cortland, and Samuel D. Cappotto, Syracuse, N.Y., assignors to SCM Corporation, New York, N .Y., a corporation of New York Filed Apr. 26, 1966, Ser. No. 545,490 Claims. (Cl. 197165) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A ribbon system for a typewriter including a four color ribbon having on each half of its length a different color combination and having a ribbon reverse abutment attached to the ribbon at the point where the two color combinations meet and including a ribbon reverse lever adjacent each spool having a pivotal arm and a ribbon carrier having channel shaped forms therein to allow the abutment to bypass the reverse levers and ribbon carrier when changing from one color combination of the ribbon at the print point to the other color combination. The ribbon system further includes a key controllable motor driven belt for power driving the ribbon reverse abutment through the reverse levers and ribbon carrier.

Background 0 the invention The only known prior art exists in a presently marketed typewriter that employs a multi-colored, or in this instance a four color ribbon, system which is comprised of two different color combinations, each of which occupy one half the ribbon length. This system has disadvantages when the operator desires to change color combinations in that she is required to wind a spool varying amounts three different times, pick up a ribbon to bypass a reversing lever two different times, remove the ribbon from the ribbon carrier, replace the ribbon in the ribbon carrier, and open and close the ribbon spool cover two different times. These steps are time consuming, laborious, and it is difiicult to avoid getting soiled fingers.

In view of the foregoing it is the object of this invention to overcome these disadvantages by providing an improved four color ribbon system for typewriters that is quick and convenient to change from one color combination to the other.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved four color ribbon system having a motor powered ribbon feed which requires no physical handling by the operator while changing from one color combination to the other.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved multi-colored ribbon system that is operable from the machine keyboard.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved multi-colored ribbon system having a reversing means that is operable by the ribbon abutments to reverse the ribbon feed during normal typing but is not operable by the ribbon abutments during color combination changes.

Further novel features and other objects of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, discussion and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing showing a preferred structure and embodiment in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of the multicolor ribbon system of the present invention and of the principle typewriter components associated therewith;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a portion of one of the novel ribbon reversing levers with a portion of the ribbon extending therethrough;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIGURE 2;

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FIGURE 4 is a left side elevational view of the machine power ribbon winding system; and

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view of the spools and the multi-color ribbon showing the conventional end ribbon reversing abutments and an additional abutment intermediate the end abutments.

Like the previously mentioned four color ribbon system, the present invention employs a ribbon that consists of two different color combinations, each of which occupies one half the ribbon length, with an abutment provided at the center of the ribbon length where the two color combinations meet. In combination with a conventional ribbon color selector mechanism, this provides the operator with a versatility of printing characters of any one of four colors on a work sheet. However, unlike the previously mentioned four color ribbon system, the present invention employs a novel reversing means that permits a change of color combinations simply by winding one particular ribbon spool.

This simple method of changing color combinations is useful for manual typewriters and particularly useful for a typewriter that is equipped with a power ribbon winding system in which the winding of the spool is accomplished by pushing a button.

The present invention employs a power winding system disclosed briefly herein and is the subject invention disclosed in detail in copending application, Ser. No. 509,- 776, filed Nov. 26, 1965, now Patent No. 3,363,738 issued Jan. 16, 1968 to Aaron C. Zeamer and Samuel D. Cappotto.

Referring now to the figures and more particularly to FIGURE 1, a conventional ribbon feeding mechanism 10 incrementally feeds the ribbon 12 past the printing point in response to key actuated printing actions until an abutment 14 on the ribbon pivots the novel reversing lever 16 clockwise about its pivot 17. The pivoting motion of the lever 16 conditions a reversing mechanism generally indicated at 18 so that a key actuatable bail finger 20, locaed near the front of the machine, causes the reversing mechanism 18 to laterally move the ribbon feed shaft 22 toward the left out of engagement with the right ribbon spool spindle 23 and into engagement with the left ribbon spool spindle 24.

The reversing mechanism 18 is mainly comprised of a shifting fork 26 that is pivotally mounted by a shoulder screw 28 on a frame bracket 30 and of a conditioning bar 32 that is pivotally mounted by a shoulder screw 34 on the shifting fork 26. A spring 36 interconnecting fork 26 and bar 32 biases the conditioning bar 32 counterclockwise about screw 34 to a limited position determined by rear extension 38 abutting the lower extension 84 of the reversing lever 16. A forward extension 40 of the conditioning bar 32 has a step portion 42 that is normally held out of the path of the finger 20 by the reversing lever 16 being more heavily biased by spring 31 than the spring 36. The shifting fork 26 has an extension 27 that straddles a rigid ribbon feed shaft disc 44 and has one of its arms 46 shaped to cooperate with a formed leaf spring 48 which provides a two positioned detent for the reverse mechanism 18.

Wnen the reversing lever 16 is pivoted clockwise by ribbon abutment 14, the conditioning bar 32 is biased counterclockwise by spring 36 and the conditioning bar forward extension step portion 42 is positioned in the path of the oscillating bail finger 20. The bail finger 20 is pivoted on a fixed shaft 50, and is rocked clockwise every time a key actuator 52 (one of which is shown) is rocked clockwise about shaft 50 by a power driven snatch roll 54. This motion of actuator 52 is explained in detail by Patent Re. 25,011.

Clockwise movement of the bail finger 20 following counter-clockwise movement of step portion 42 drives the 3 bar 32 forward. This pivots the shifting fork 26 counterclockwise and shifts the ribbon feed shaft 22 to the left, which transfers the key actuated incremental rotative motion from the right ribbon spool spindle 23 to the left ribbon spool spindle 24.

A manual ribbon reverse lever 60, that is pivotally mounted to the side frames 51 by a screw 62 and extends through an opening in the conditioning bar 32, provides the operator the option of manually shifting the ribbon feed shaft 22 to either its right or left position by moving the manual reverse button 64 to the appropriate position.

A like mechanism (not shown) for reversing mechanism 18 is disposed near the right end of ribbon feed shaft 22 and cooperates with the right reversing lever 66 in a like manner as described for the left reversing mechanism to automatically shift the shaft 22 to the right when the ribbon abutment pivots the right reversing lever 66 counter-clockwise about pivot 67.

It is important to note that when an abutment contacts and pivots its appropriate reversing lever, the automatic reversing of the ribbon feed occurs only by virtue of a typing action which pivots finger 20 merely rotating shaft 22 when the reverse lever 16 or reverse lever 66 is pivoted will not actuate the reverse mechanism 18.

The two color combinations of the ribbon 69 and 71, which are joined at a position 73, are individually comprised of two different colored sections that are arranged the same as are the colors of a conventional red and black ribbon wherein one color occupies the upper half of the ribbon and the other color occupies the lower half of the ribbon. In addition to the abutment 14 that is located centrally of the ribbon length, two other abutments 15 and 19 are provided, each of which is located near each ribbon end. The intermediate abutment 14 is of a thickness that is greater than the ribbon thickness but less than the thickness of either end abutment. The three abutments provide normal automatic reversing of whichever color combination is in use.

FIGURE 1 is shown with the color combination on the right half of the ribbon 69 being used with the ribbon being fed to the right and the intermediate abutment 14 about to contact the left reversing lever 16.

Referring now to FIGURE 2, the novel reversing lever 16 is comprised of a main member 68 and a movable member 70. The movable member 70 is pivotally mounted on the main member 68 by pin 72 and is biased in a clockwise direction about its pivot by spring 74 with its lower extension 75 limiting against the lower portion of main member 68. The upper formed extension 76 of the movable member 70 cooperates with the similar shaped upper extension 78 of the main member 68 to form an aperture 80 for guiding the ribbon. The aperture width is slightly larger than the ribbon thickness but smaller than the thickness of the intermediate abutment 14.

It can now be seen from FIGURE 1 that if the right ribbon spool 82 is wound in a clockwise direction, the intermediate abutment 14 will pivot reversing lever 16 until the reversing lever lower extension 84 contacts rigid member 86. Since the abutment 14 is normally restricted from passing through the narrower aperture 80 and since the force exerted by the abutment 14 against the curved aperture defining lips 88 (FIGURE 3) is greater than the force applied by spring 74, the movable member 70 pivotally yields momentarily and allows the abutment 14 to pass through the aperture 80.

As the ribbon spool 82 is further wound, the abutment 14 is able to pass through the ribbon carrier 89 by means of two channel shaped forms 90 in the carrier arms and contacts the right reversing lever 66. Because the right reversing lever 66 is similar in shape and construction as is the left reversing lever 16, the movable member 92 of the right reversing lever 66 momentarily yields away from its mating main member 94 as the abutment 14 passes through the aperture and is wound onto the right ribbon spool 82.

The color combination occupying the left half of the ribbon is now positioned at the printing point and normal typing will automatically reverse the direction of ribbon feed when either the left end ribbon abutment (not shown) contacts the left reversing lever 16 or when the intermediate abutment 14 contacts the right reversing lever 66.

When it is desired to return to the original color combination, the manual reverse lever 60 is positioned such that the left ribbon spool 96 may be wound until the intermediate abutment 14 has passed through the right reversing lever 66, the ribbon carrier 89, and the left reversing lever 16.

FIGURE 4 illustrates the power ribbon winding system as disclosed in the previously identified copending application which will now be described briefly for convenience.

A sleeve 100 is rotated counterclockwise by the motor 102 through a suitable drive train 104. By pivoting a lever 106 clockwise about screw 108, an endless belt 110 simultaneously and frictionally engages both sleeve 100 and sleeve 112 which is rigidly assembled on shaft 22 for rotating the shaft 22 counterclockwise.

FIGURE 4 further illustrates a novel keyboard control button 114 that automatically moves the shaft 22 endwise to engage the shaft 22 with the proper ribbon spool spindle before rotating the shaft 22. This insures that a specific winding direction is obtained for the desired color combination.

To accomplish this, the keyboard control button 114 is pivotally mounted on the frame 51 by screw 116 and has a pair of projections 118 that cooperate with a pair of formed extensions 120 of lever 106 to rotate the lever clockwise regardless of which direction the control button 114 is pivoted. An extension 122 of the control button 114 has a rigid pin 124 that cooperates within the arms of a bifurcated extension 126 on lever 60 to correctly position the reverse lever in response to the pivoted direction of the control button 114. As a result, when the button 114 is pivoted clockwise, toward the operator, the ribbon is wound on the left spool, and when the button 114 is pivoted counterclockwise, away from the operator the ribbon is wound on the right spooi.

A stop 128 formed from main member 68 is located to limit the pivotable movement of movable member 70. The amount of pivotable movement is such as to allow the intermediate abutment 14 to pass through the reverse lever 16 but to prevent the end abutment from passing through due to the end abutment having a greater thickness than the intermediate abutment 14. This provides a safety measure to prevent the end of the ribbon from being pulled off the spool when the operator holds the power rewind feature in operation until the ribbon is all wound on one spool. When an end abutment is stopped by a respective reverse lever, the endless belt 110 will slip against sleeve 100 which prevents damage to the ribbon system.

This novel keyboard control button, when provided with appropriate indicating means such as color coded decals, enables the operator to simply move the button in the direction indicated by the desired color coded decal and Wait for the color combination to appear at the printing point.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A multi-color ribbon system for printing machines comprising:

(a) a ribbon mechanism (10, 22, 23, 24) including a pair of spools (82, 96) for feeding the ribbon across a printing point in response to printing actions;

(b) the ribbon (12) having a portion of its length at least one color and having another portion of its length a different color than said one color;

(c) an abutment (14) carried by the ribbon and located substantially at the position where said one color portion changes to said different color portion;

(d) a reverse means (54, 52, 50, 20, 40, 26, 44) for reversing the feeding direction of said ribbon mechanism;

(e) a lever (16) positioned adjacent one spool (96) and operable by said abutment when the abutment is located between the spool and the lever to condition said reverse mechanism for actuation in response to printing actions; and

(1) an arm (70) mounted on said lever for movement relative thereto from a first position in which the arm cooperates with said lever to form a guide operable by said abutment to condition said reverse mechanism for actuation in response to printing actions to a second position in which said arm moves relative to said lever by said abutment for said abutment to bypass said lever in response to winding the ribbon from one spool toward the other spool.

2. A ribbon system as defined in claim 1 further comprising a spring (74) interconnecting said lever and said arm for biasing said arm to said first position.

3. A ribbon system as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

(a) a ribbon carrier (89) for carrying the ribbon to and from the print point having channel forms (90) for said abutment (14) to pass therethrough;

(b) a second lever (66) positioned adjacent the sec ond spool (82) and operable by said abutment (14) when the abutment is located between said second lever and the second spool to condition said reverse mechanism for actuation in response to printing actions; and

(c) an arm (92) mounted on said second lever for movement relative thereto by said abutment when said abutment passes through said channel forms and contacts said arm and thereafter moves said arm relative to said lever for said abutment to bypass said lever to position said abutment between said second lever and the second spool in response to winding the ribbon from one spool to the second spool.

4. A ribbon system as defined in claim 3 further comprising a power means (104, 100, 110, 112) for winding said one color portion onto one spool until said abutment (14) bypasses one of said levers (16) and said ribbon carrier (89) and the other of said levers (66) for positioning said different color portion at the print point.

5. A ribbon system as defined in claim 4 wherein said power means includes a keyboard controllable means (114, 122, 60) operatively connected to said reverse means (32, 18) for selectively conditioning said reverse means for winding the ribbon in one of two directions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 25,024 8/1961 Barkdoll 197-17 521,091 6/1894 Stiles 197-165 530,365 12/1894 Stiles 197-165 623,232 4/1899 Barron 197-174 657,153v 9/1900 Barron 197-174- 805,060 11/1905 Disbrow 197-151 1,212,166 1/1917 Amiss 197-172 2,872,016 2/1959 Sharpe 197-151 3,090,296 5/1963 Pechmann 101-336 X 3,185,083 5/1965 Pensavecchia et a1. 197-165 X ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

ERNEST T. WRIGHT, Assistant Examiner. 

